Four rapists freed on bail in Pakistan

Men who were sentenced to death in the sanctioned assault leave jail pending an appeal

Associated Press

Published
5:30 am CST, Wednesday, March 16, 2005

ISLAMABAD, PAKISTAN - Four of six men sentenced to death for raping a woman on orders from a village council were released on bail Tuesday pending an appeal of their case to Pakistan's Supreme Court, lawyers and jail officials said.

The men walked out of a jail in Dera Ghazi Khan, 310 miles southwest of Islamabad, nearly three years after being convicted of raping Mukhtar Mai, 33, after the council of elders ordered her attacked as punishment for her young brother's alleged illicit affair with a woman from another family.

The release was ordered by a local judge a day after the Supreme Court agreed to hear the men's appeal, following conflicting rulings from two lower courts. "We got orders to release the men, and we did," jail official Mohammed Kazim said.

Mai denounced the decision, saying she feared for her life should the men seek revenge.

"I have appealed to the government and judiciary that there is a threat to my life. I am worried about their release. I fear they might kill me," she said by telephone from her home in Meerwala, the town where the attack occurred.

Mai denies that her 13-year-old brother ever had illicit relations with the woman and says the village council's decision to order her rape was made to cover up a sexual assault on the boy by men from the Mastoi clan, which enjoys local power.

Six men were sentenced to death following the June 2002 attack. On March 3, the convictions of five of the men were overturned and the sixth reduced to life in prison.

Of the two inmates not released Tuesday, one was the man serving a life sentence, and the other was facing unrelated theft charges.